Counting of votes in LS polls to start tomorrow

The counting of votes will begin tomorrow, three days after the end of a nearly month-long polling to elect a new Lok Sabha.      

The Election Commission has put in place an elaborate arrangement for the counting of votes, which would start at 0800 hours tomorrow, both in the Lok Sabha and assembly elections.      

The exercise would take place at 4,260 counting halls in 1,080 centres across the country and would be managed by nearly 60,000 personnel.      

The Commission has launched a special website www.eciresults.nic.in to make available instantly the outcome of the election, considered the largest democratic exercise in the world.      

A little over half of the country's 71.37 crore registered voters exercised their franchise in the election stretched over five phases, which started on April 16 and ended on May 13, to choose from 8,070 candidates belonging to 46 national and state parties registered with the Election Commission.      

Elections are held to 543 seats of the 545-member Lok Sabha, as two members are nominated from the Anglo-Indian community. A party or a coalition needs to have at least 272 seats in the Lok Sabha to stake claim to form a government.

The Election Commission had developed a special software that will ensure that the result sheet from each hall after every round of counting is sent to the data as well as media centres simultaneously.      

In addition to the trends and results being made available on the website, large display boards would be put up in front of the Nirvachan Sadan on the counting day for the benefit of the public.      

Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir are the only two states that went to the polls in all the five phases.      

Along with the Lok Sabha, elections to the 294-member assembly in Andhra Pradesh, 144-member Orissa assembly and 32-seat Sikkim legislature were also held.